Samurai Delicatessen

Just because...

If Only Senator Amidala Were Here

Much like Palps, I show up and try to convince you that it's appropriate to vote for me and to stuff the ballot box.

Mayor Daly and I are trying to bring more traffic to my 4th stream of income. My kids are starving ...

Go to www.ballyhype.com and register as a user. Then, add www.hoopsvibe.com to your "favorites" -- that way, you'll be seeing all my article submitted under my psuedonym "Jason Kelly" (I'm really Porkins) and you can "hype up" or give a positive vote to my articles. It's good for my street cred.

See you guys next time I need you ;) Or ... when I start getting paid for blogging about Star Wars (note that of all the hate I've received on HoopsVibe, no one has given me a hard time for being a self-proclaimed Star Wars Geek).

geek rebellion is not over UNTIL I SAY IT'S OVER!!!

For those that are interested, I've revived geek rebellion. Yes, I am a gigantic flaky, wishy-washy nut-job. Hugs and kisses!

-RJ

Blade Runner - The Final Review

Originally posted over on the OS.


I was lucky enough to catch the newest (and allegedly final) version of Blade Runner at my local cinema last night, and thought you might like to hear some feedback.

Yes, I know it’s coming out in a super duper multidisc box set in a week or so, but who can give up the chance of seeing it again on the big screen? Not me, buddy.

Overall it was a great experience, the image looked stunning; really sharp and perfectly saturated. The remastered audio was very cool. The atmosphere was tripled by the enhanced ambience and even in the quietest, most still moments, I remained completely absorbed. Of course, some of the biggest changes were in the addition of cut scenes, and the polishing of old effects, and I’ll try to give you a run down of what I noticed.

WARNING – IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM, AND DON’T WANT TO FALL FOUL OF ANY SPOILERS, STOP READING HERE.

Firstly, all the spinner shots have been tidied up, no wires to be seen at all. Also, some extra spinners have been added to the sky, and there are some additional shots of Harrison in his own spinner, pulling into his apartment complex. All of these shots just add to the concept of a bustling metropolis.

Bryant now says “four skinjobs” instead of “five” - a pretty important amendment.

The scene with the Egyptian has been sorted out – no more terrible lip sync issues.

One big change is the fixed Zhora death – now it looks like Joanna Cassidy falling through the windows, and not me in a wig. Also, the boots don’t disappear and reappear anymore. It looks like Joanna actually re-shot some of this (she is credited at the end and bluescreen is mentioned) – 25 years on and she’s still fit as a butcher’s dog!

Some big changes to Roy’s defining moments – the one swear word has been replaced.
Now he no longer says “I want more life… fucker!”, but instead the last word is ‘father’. I have to say, this kind of jarred me, but it makes more sense.
Still, it felt funny for some reason.

Also, we are treated to a much longer version of Tyrell’s death at Roy’s hands – but considering the emphasis put on the ‘eye’ throughout the film, this fits in extremely well.

There are some more tweaks and nudges throughout, but all in, this is the definitive version, and I was delighted to see it on the big screen one more time.

It would be remiss of me if I didn’t mention Vangelis’s contribution to this masterpiece, and his music is still as haunting and emotional as ever before – this truly is one of my favorite soundtracks, ever.

So there you go – don’t worry if you missed it, as it will be on DVD very soon – and who knows? If you come to sunny California, you can watch it in our theater, we’ll supply the popcorn.

THE INTERNET IS DYING! :O

First they tell us we're running out of oil. Now, we're running out of THE INTERNET!

*cries pixel tears*

Internet could run out of capacity by 2010

That's in just two years, if we don't start saving some cash and clearing out all those old emails:

A flood of new video and other Web content could overwhelm the Internet by 2010 unless backbone providers invest up to $137 billion in new capacity, more than double what service providers plan to invest, according to the study , by Nemertes Research Group, an independent analysis firm. In North America alone, backbone investments of $42 billion to $55 billion will be needed in the next three to five years to keep up with demand, Nemertes said.

People like me will have to tighten our belts a little. Maybe I don't need those 12 blogs, even though I only use two or three. I'm going to do my part and clean out some of those hundreds of quirky yet never used photos in my photobucket and other online image storage accounts. I think my main photobucketfolder is 36 pages long and growing, and I have no idea how much more that amounts to with the 20 to 30 subfolders:p

Here are some samples of never before linked images from the bowels of jkthunder's online image archives. As you will see, these are largely Star Wars related...Except this one of course. Because I thought I might need to use a picture of anime dragon with flame tail someday!

Leia, Leia, Leia, Leia, gun, gun, gun, gun.

Strictly need to know basis

I love Sanda (click for awesomeness)

Okay, okay... so I've linked to these before. W00t? You haven't seen all the Star Wars Pixel Mashes? Ah, well I better post em, since I have about 20 different versions of these saved. Ep 4 above.

Ep 6

Nintendo ownz

This is tiny, which is prolly why I never used it. LOL - but it still makes me giggle

Also tiny. Poor kitty! Mean Obi-Wan!
Star (Wars) is just like Us! ;)
(C'mon - admit you've read these in waiting rooms)

Reason 1 why you shouldn't let pictures of yourself get on the web: you might get caught in a Battle of Geonosis reenactment!
(and people like me will use those pictures when they get the chance)
Which I break the law with in the next one...

Believe it or not, this is really a Princess Leia costume for Halloween - courtesy of my mother's imagination. I think this one is staying ;)

That's just some random picks from a few pages of my photobucket folders. A final thought before this closes:

- Love and mushy stuff, xoxoxox - jk*star*thunder

We're sorry to interrupt all broadcasts...

Due to the WGA strike, most broadcasts will be indefinitely suspended, and instead we will be forced to find our entertainment elsewhere... with 80's reruns. After all, there's nuthin' tougher than gangs from the 80's. 'Specially the purple wearin' thugs. I think the strikers are getting new ideas for negotiations...


WARNING: Contains the word JERK spoken with purpose!

Destiny's Way

I just finished Destiny's Way, book number ? out of ? in the New Jedi Order series. I don't feel like looking up the exact number at the moment. As my trek through the NJO began, I really was not a fan of the series. I didn't mind the significant deaths as much as I didn't enjoy the dreary, defeatist, gloomy tone of the thing. The Yuuzhan Vong were just overwhelmingly awful.

Yet, I stuck with it and I think I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed Destiny's Way. I'm sure part of it is that the good guys are starting to have a little bit of success. But I've also enjoyed seeing the beginnings of Jacen's path towards Sith-iness. His relationships with Vergere has many similarities with his relationship with Lumiya. Which makes sense.

So, now that I'm down to five or so NJO books remaining, I'm actually looking forward to the rest of them.

Let the President sleep - dammit!

Star Wars in Sports

I haven't been around so much, as I've been consumed by sporting events. The D-Backs had a good run, the Suns are starting up and -- only a little behind schedule -- the Cards are starting to implode.

A sports guy on the local radio said that the thing on Curt Warner's arm last Sunday looked like something that the Emperor grafted onto Darth Vader. Then, reading Bill Simmons, he cut-and-pasted this email for us:

"Bill, when Drew hit that grand slam in the first inning, I felt just like I did when I saw 'Return of the Jedi' for the first time. After hating Darth Vader for nearly nine hours of the original Star Wars trilogy, he does that one great thing at the end and saves Luke Skywalker's life. We forgot all about how he killed scores of people, including the whole planet of Alderaan."

Star Wars is everywhere, I suppose.

I've always enjoyed the similarities between sports and the Saga.